Thursday, January 17, 2008

Adolf Volume 3: The Half-Aryan




by Osamu Tezuka


I usually have quite the battle with the boys over limiting the comics/manga stuff they can read -- otherwise it might be all they read. I'm sure we'll have similar battles when they're older and try to drink light beer, and I take very seriously the father's responsibility to guide them and steer them towards the good stuff. No Budweiser for my boys, and no crappy comics either...

The issue with the manga art is of course the number of bare bottoms and pairs of frilly panties that appear every couple of pages, plus the fact that they need to check out 15 -20 books at a time just to read half the series! Are they churning this stuff out, or what? Anyway...

I checked this one out, and will go back for the rest of the story. There is some violence and the usual love story melodrama, but that's to be expected. The key is the WWII/Jewish persecution storyline, and how the young protagonists experience being thrust into the dangerous confusing adult world.

Explorations of worldview, questioning authority, cultural/religious differences, as well as how to tell a story in a different medium (or, when is a comic book not just a comic book?)...

connections: Maus by Art Spiegelman, Anne Frank, The Hiding Place, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad...

5 comments:

Slim said...

Have you heard of/read "Star Girl" by (I think) Jerry Spinelli? AWSOME story full of all sorts of worthwhile lessons. You should read it. And don't listen to it on tape like I did. John Ritter narrated and, well, not so much.

So now I have to get the sequel, "Love, Star Girl" on tape because I'm READING the second book in the "His Dark Materials" series...so far even better than "The Golden Compass"

Anonymous said...

Just happen to have a stop at the Library planned for today, so this will go on the list -- thanks!
We listened to the 1st H.Potter book on cd and it was great, kinda like going through an old photo album and remembering when the kids (mine & JK Rowling's) were so little and cute...

Mr. Nauton said...

I knew someone had told me there was a sequel! Thanks again for the great recommendation...

alisonwonderland said...

i'm planning to explore the graphic novel genre this year, so this is one i might have to take a look at. thanks for the review.

Mr. Nauton said...

I've always enjoyed comics and graphic novels, but sometimes the violence gets too much and in the way of the story... Watchmen was good (adult and a bit bizarre), Maus is incredible, and League of Extrordinary Gent. also comes to mind...